The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-10-03
SOME MARTIAL FINANCIERs.
The Figure the Military Element Cuts
in Wall Street.

make good financiers. II is not necessary
/ to enter into theories touching the reasons
| for the financial success of those who have
/ commanded in the field: it will be sufficient
! to recognize the fact. The misfortunes of
/ Gen Grant in financial enterprises merely
/ form one of the exceptions which seem to
prove the rule. The First Napoleon, is
/ well known, was business man OF the
/ highest order He could turn from brilliant
strategy to the question of shoes for his sol
diers or a hundred other details, really of
business nature, including the awarding of
contracts and the delivery of sup
plies. And the only unbusiness like
circumstance in this connection recorded of
him was the hanging, by his order, OF
several contractors for not delivering goods
on time, yet it is worthy of note that this
NapoeOnic innovation led to more bust
ness-llke promptness on the part of other
contractors in keeping their engagements
with him. Napoleon would have won
fortune simply as a business man. Wei
lington was also business man of the first
order. Military discipline seems similar in
many respects to the discipline necessary to
commercial achievements that lead on to
fortune. And this seems true not merely of
the great commanders whose names will
shine bright in history till the present civil
cation shall go down in the darkness that
enshrouds the equally proud civilizations of
antiquity, but of the martial figures of lesser
note whose names are unknown to the null
titude, though they may be known to the
military student
Gen. Samuel Thomas, President of the
East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia road,
with headquarters at New York, is finan-
cier of ability. Years ago he was an Ohio
lawyer He became identified with rail
roads and is now millionaire One of his
grand coups was the selling of the Nickel
Plate road-the New York, Chicago and st.
Louis-to the late William II. Vanderbilt.
The road was said to be something nearly
like strike" and Gen. Thomas jocuarly
described himself and his associates in the
enterprise as a gang of burglars at work on
Mr. Vanderblts safe. After the sale
of the road his friends presented him
with a scarf-pin ornamented with jeweled
picture of craftsman plunderlng a safe.
He keeps it as IA souvenir but does not wear
it, Gen. Thomas is personally popular,
quiet and unpretending. and is likely to be-
come even more prominent with the steady
development of the South.
Gen. Horace Porter is another military
figure in Wall street. He is now Vice Presi-
dent of the Pullman Palace Car Company,
and was at one time President of the West
Shore railroad, and Vice President of the
Metropolitan Elevated road. He has not
been uniformly successful in his financial
enterprises, but he has the faculty of land
ing on his feet. He is a graduate of West
Point took part in many important battles
during the war was on Gen. Grants staff,
and when the conqueror of Lee became
President he became his private secretary
Gen Porter looks like soldier. He wears
moustache and imperial, and has quiet,
courteous and dignified manners. He has a
keen sense of humor, and ranks with Chaun-
cey NJ. Depew among the notable after-din-
ner speakers of New York.
Taking the next military man l happen
to meet there is Emile Schalk, of the Con
solidated Exchange. He was on Gen. Nc
Clelan's staff in the civil war and published
five books, one entitled The Art of War;"
written especially for the volunteer service,
and another, 1.-The Campaign of 1923
which made him widely known as as mil
itary author He is a German, from Mentz,
on the Rhine, and was educated as a civil
engineer at the Ecoie Centrale, of Paris
He has organized several exchanges and has
made a fortune in petroleum.
John Il. lnman, the cotton and railroad
millionaire, was soldier in the Confeder-
ate army, but has West Point stride as he
goes through Wall street. He is a natural
soldier although he never held any rank.
Gen. Thomas NJ. Logan, who is so promi-
nent in the railroad world is often seen in
Wall street. He is a Charlestonian, As
years of age, was a Brigadier General i'll
the Confederate army at %, practiced law
in Richmond after the war, drifted into
railroad enterprises, and is now wealthy
He is President of the Virginia Midland
road and Vice President of several roads in
the Richmond and Danville system. He is
graduate of the University of South Caro-
lima, and is at once a gentleman and finan-
cier two terms not necessarily synony
nous.
handsome man slightly under the me-
dunn height, with bushy side whiskerS and
keen and rather sinister gray eyes, is one of
the familiar figures of Wall street. | see
him coming out of the Stock Exchange or
entering the office of Drexel, Morgan x Co.
or going into the Mills Building, possibly
to consult with Henry Willard about rail
road elections in the Northwest. 1t is Bray
ton Ives. Few, even i'll Wall street, know
that he has military career They only
remember that Elijah Smith has checkma-
ted him in some railroad schemes in the far
Northwest, that he has nevertheless, met
with considerable degree of success in
Wall street, and is wealthy He was
recen thy reelected director i'll
the Northern Pacific railroad. He
entered the Union army as an Adjutant
when only 20 years of age, became a Cap
tain Of infantry, a Major, and at % or %
commanded cavalry regiment under Gen.
at "A, and ultimately becoming a Brevet
Brigadier General on the recommendation
of the hero of Winchester. Gen. Ives served
all through the war and was mustered out
in 1864. He came from Connecticut, the
land of wooden oats, hams and nutmegs,
and is a graduate of Yale. | refer to him
partly BECAUSE of his successful financial
career and partly because he possesses an ex-
ceptionally fine library of 5000 or 5000 vol
umes 1t includes the Gutenberg Bible,
the first printed book which goes back to
about 1855; the fourth book with a date,
1860, Latin lexicon; the Cicero de Ofiiciis,
bearing date of 1860; the first arithme-
tic ever printed, the first Euclid
Iliad, Odyssey, Virgil. st, Augustine, Caesar
and Plutarch, the Pembroke Missal
or manuscript book of prayers ON velum
made about l440 for the first Earl of Penn
broke. and for which it is said he has re.
fused $4,000, not to mention other rare
works. Gen. Ives makes specially of the
earliest volumes printed in the fifteenth CEN
fury, and of books relating to the early his
tory of this country. He was associated
with Gen. Grant and the famous William
r. Trayers, as director in one of the big
banks of this city, reads Latin, Greek and
French, and is a member of the leading
clubs of New York
There are others equally worthy of note
who have had a military career, and have
also made their mark i'll the monetary
world, and the foregoing names are merely
taken at random. They seem to give color
To the theory that the military life 60 ia